Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-08-06
DEMAND FOR ROLLER SKATES.

Tho Trade as Dead as "a Mummy-Prtce
Of Observation-Disclosures.
as there any market for roller skatesY'
ives asked Of Mr.. Jerry Raymond, who,
with his brother, was the pioneer Of the
business.
"None to speak Of, p" was the reply; 1.-THE
bottom has fallen clean out Of It."
elias the demand entirely ceasedf'
"Practically, yes. We continue To send
a few small orders to Canada, the west,
ana TO Australia; with these exceptions
the trade Is rs dead as an Egyptian
mummy"
''Iias there been much change in the
price Of skatesf''
You'll laugh, probably, when tell
you that the skate we sold two or three
years ago for IS and SO a pair can now be
purchased for $l25 and s.. so, and yet at
these latter figures we can make n fair
profit. OF course, our material doesn't
cost as much as it did then, and in rela-
ton TO this matter / want TO tell you
something that is quite interesting, and
which very few people outside the bust
ness know anything about. When we
begun the manufacture Of skates box
wood, out OF which the wheels were made,
was worth $50 n ton. In making the
rollers we experimental with almost
everything that suggested itself, but could
discover nothing that served the purpose
50 well rs the material mentioned. OF
course an enormous demand for it imine-
diately sprang up, and the price also took
u Jump. The dealers seemed conscious OF
the fact that we could not get along with
out II, and in less than no time they had
sent the price from $50 to $40 a ton, and
this was the figure they held 1t at until
the demand was slackened. But this
wasn't all. The wood companies who use
lockwood almost exclusively In their bust
ness were brought up with a sudden turn
when they found the article had increased
SO enormously In price. They couldn't
afford to purchase it at such Il value, and
had to substitute an inferior wood until
1t became cheaper. We completely drained
the market, and at one time it looked as
- we would be compelled TO use some kind
n substitute, but such an emergency
never arose, from the fact that Just about
this time the roller skating business be-
came thoroughly paralyzed."
care many Of the jobbers stocked up
with skates?"
eyes, a great many, Of them. know
OF q number Of firms who have from 900
to 5000 pairs, with no immediate prospect
OF ever getting rid of them"
"On the whole, there was not a great
deal Of money made on the Kinks, was
theres"
ut always pains me to think Of that
matter. Look here, at these photographs.
There is one that shows the interior Of
my Brooklyn rink, which was the finest
in the world. 1t cost just $S3, 600 to pro-
vide the subject for that little picture.
All OF those beautiful decorations were
swept away as suddenly as II they had
been picked up by a cyclone and ground
into splinters. / am not alone In this dis
astrous experience. There were thousands
OF others who were served almost as
badly rs I was."-New York Mail and
Express.
Drinking Water from Country Hotels.
"Here's n new wrinkle" said the pro-
brietor of a country hotel who was In the
city the other day. ~ received q few
days ago a letter from a New York gen
tleman inquiring my rates for board and
asking me to send him a sample or our
drinking water. This Is an odd idea, and
IL is likely to be generally practiced in my
opinion. The hotel men are wont TO call
such persons cranks, but looking ut the
matter seriously IL must be admitted
that the question of water should be
thoroughly considered. A change OF wa
ter often causes sickness, and II this be
true il behooves men to investigate and
ascertain IL possible whether that change
will be for better or worse. Me- York
Sun.